October 16: The government has decided to enfore the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans, readymade liquor and motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity and smart phones worth more than US$300 until…
October 16: The government has decided to enfore the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans, readymade liquor and motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity and smart phones worth more than US$300 until…
October 16: This year's monsoon has gradually started exiting Nepal from Saturday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting…
October 16: Nepal has ranked second in South Asia in the Global Hunger Index 2022.…
October 16: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are joining hands to preparing a report in order to assess the status of the private sector in…
October 14: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has authorized the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to decide on the suspension of share trading of banks and financial institutions opting for merger and…
October 14: The government has granted permits to 901 mountaineers of 108 groups to climb 35 different mountain peaks for the winter…
October 14: Nepal Foreign Trade Association, the umbrella body of import businessmen, had demanded the government to lift the ban imposed on the import of four different items including vehicles such as cars, jeeps, vans; mobiles phones worth more than US$300; motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity; and ready-made…
October 14: Phurba Sherpa of Solukhumbu, Ramse, who was recruited by Qatar-based company Haliullah for carpentry work, returned home within one week because he lacked the required…
October 14: A motion with 11 serious allegations against Nepal’s tea industry has been registered in the Provincial Assembly of West Bengal, India alleging that the tea produced in Nepal has discredited the Darjeeling tea in the world…
October 14: Nepal is preparing to attend the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC on November…
October 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday relieved four ministers representing the Janata Samajbadi Party from their…
October 13: The import of vehicles powered by diesel and petrol has declined significantly at the Birgunj customs in the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.…
October 13: Life insurance companies of Nepal have collected insurance worth more than Rs 26 billion as of mid-September this year.…
October 13: With just five days remaining for the submission of application for new broker license, only one company has filed application so far seeking such…
October 13: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has completed broadband service installation in the designated areas of 74 districts through the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund…
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However, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies published a notice on the Nepal Gazette on Friday extending the ban period. As the foreign exchange reserves were under pressure, the ministry had initially published a notice on the Nepal Gazette on April 26 and banned the import of 10 luxury goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the 10 items, the ban on food items like crisps along with color televisions larger than 32 inches, playing cards, diamonds other than raw materials, cigarettes and tobacco products and all kinds of toys was removed on August 29.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry, however, extended the ban on import of four items using the powers given by Sub-section 1 of Section 3 of the Export Import (Control) Act, 2013. According to the ministry, the purpose of the ban is to protect the country's external financial sector and balance of payments by preventing deficits of the foreign currency or by increasing the extremely low foreign currency reserves.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had been tightening imports since last winter. Initially, Nepal Rastra Bank set a limit on import quota of silver. Last December, the central bank had made arrangements requiring 50 and 100 percent cash margin for opening LC for the import of luxury goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The chief executive officers of commercial banks were verbally instructed by NRB to avoid opening LCs for the import of vehicles for private use. Eventually, as a last resort, a formal ban was imposed on the import of luxury items on April 26.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The importers have been claiming that despite the ban imposed by the government, the import of other goods except two-wheelers and four-wheelers never stopped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madan Mittal, former secretary general of Nepal Foreign Trade Association, says that the ban on the import of goods other than vehicles and large machinery tools has only give an opportunity to the smugglers to bring such goods into the country through illegal channels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15899', 'image' => '20221016024624_20220717124909_nada.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 14:45:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16157', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monsoon Starts Exiting Nepal from Saturday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: This year's monsoon has gradually started exiting Nepal from Saturday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 16: This year's monsoon has gradually started exiting Nepal from Saturday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a special monsoon bulletin regarding the departure of monsoon, the division said that monsoon has exited from all provinces except Province 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The monsoon that entered Nepal from the eastern belt of the country on June 5 this year exited Sudurpaschim Province, Karnali Province, Lumbini Province, Gandaki Province and Madhesh Province," read the special monsoon bulletin. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It would take few more days for the monsoon to exit from the remaining parts of the country, the division said. Generally monsoon exits Nepal by October 2 but this year it was extended by few more days. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15898', 'image' => '20221016010123_HemantKC_Jajarkot_RSS_09.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 13:00:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Ranks Second in Global Hunger Index among South Asian Countries', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: Nepal has ranked second in South Asia in the Global Hunger Index 2022. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">October 16: Nepal has ranked second in South Asia in the Global Hunger Index 2022. The Global Hunger Index 2022 released recently shows that Nepal ranks behind Sri Lanka in the list among South Asian Countries. It means that Nepal is one of the countries affected the least by hunger in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Overall, Nepal ranks 81st out of the 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022 ranking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a score of 19.1, Nepal has a level of hunger that is “moderate”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators - undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Undernourishment is determined on the basis of the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake while child stunting is measured based on the share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic under-nutrition.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, child wasting is determined by the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute under-nutrition and child mortality is based on the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Based on the values of the four indicators, a GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger, where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. Each country’s GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In South Asia, neighbouring India ranked 107 in the Global Hunger Index 2022 with its child wasting rate at 19.3 per cent being the highest in the world, according to the Economic Times. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The level of hunger in India with a score of 29.1 has been labelled "serious".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sri Lanka with a global ranking of 64 tops the list in South Asia followed by Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), Pakistan (99), India (107), and Afghanistan (109).</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15897', 'image' => '20221016111519_GHI-2-1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 11:14:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16155', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI and IFC Preparing Joint Report to Support Policymakers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are joining hands to preparing a report in order to assess the status of the private sector in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 16: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are joining hands to preparing a report in order to assess the status of the private sector in Nepal and to record the contribution of this sector to the national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report is expected to be an important document for policymakers. It will present statistics, concepts, analyses and policy recommendations in regard to the impact of the investment from the private sector to the nation's development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This collaboration between FNCCI and IFC has set the objective of providing the required information for policy debate among the government, the private sector, development partners and other stakeholders on issues related to the private sector development, the FNCCI said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There has been a qualitative growth of the private sector in Nepal since 1990. More than 99 percent formal businesses are under the ownership of the private sector. This includes the notable investment made in the social sectors such as education and health. The private sector has a growing presence in terms of capital formation and creating employment opportunities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Further development and strengthening of the private sector is essential in order to achieve Nepal's developmental goals. This would be possible only through policy reforms and a debate between the public and private sectors," FNCCI president Shekhar Golchha said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFC, as the largest development partner in the world, said it is committed to extend cooperation for the development of market and opportunities in Nepal. It is necessary to further improve the investment environment in the country for domestic and foreign investors, IFC resident representative for Nepal, Babacar S Faye said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFC is delivering on its ambitious target for Nepal by significantly increasing investments and advisory services. IFC is a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group. It is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15896', 'image' => '20221016103627_1665825434.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 10:35:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16154', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Authorized to Suspend Share Transactions of Merging Banks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has authorized the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to decide on the suspension of share trading of banks and financial institutions opting for merger and acquisition.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has authorized the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to decide on the suspension of share trading of banks and financial institutions opting for merger and acquisition.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank amended the Regulation for Merger and Acquisition of Banks and Financial Institutions 2073 on Thursday to make arrangements for the suspension and release of share transactions to be done in accordance to the provisions made by the SEBON.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the share transaction of banks and financial institutions gets suspended after signing an agreement for merger or acquisition and remains in force until the merging institutions start integrated transactions. The central bank has taken a flexible approach after increasing complaints that the suspension of share trading in the secondary market for a long time during merger or acquisition adversely affects the investors.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, NRB has mentioned that the existing provision of suspending share trading during merger or acquisition will be cancelled, and provision will be made as prescribed by SEBON. NRB has amended the regulation to implement the arrangements made by the monetary policy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although NRB has given the right to decide on the suspension of share trading to SEBON, the board has yet to decide on this matter. In the draft of the guidelines for mergers and acquisitions of organized organizations published by the board in July, it has been proposed to suspend share transactions of BFIs opting for merger and acquisition for a maximum of 15 working days. Although the board said that the guidelines will be finalized based on the suggestions of the stakeholders, the guidelines have not been passed yet.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15895', 'image' => '20221014060023_Mergerrrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 17:59:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '901 Climbers Granted Permits for Winter Expedition', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: The government has granted permits to 901 mountaineers of 108 groups to climb 35 different mountain peaks for the winter expedition. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: The government has granted permits to 901 mountaineers of 108 groups to climb 35 different mountain peaks for the winter expedition. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, the highest number of permits has been issued for Mt Manaslu (8,163 m). Altogether 404 mountaineers of 38 groups were granted permits to scale this mountain during the winter expedition. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the department informed that it has issued permits to five persons of a group to climb the highest mountain in the world, Mt Everest (Sagarmatha). A total of 131 permits were issued to 11 groups for climbing Mt Ama Dablam (6,814 m) while permits were also issued to 144 mountaineers of 14 groups for the expedition of Mt Himlung (7,167 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Thirty-four mountaineers of four different groups have received permission to scale Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) while one group has been granted permission to climb Mt Nuptse (7,855 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, the department has collected over Rs 70 million in royalties from permits issued for the winter expedition this year. A total of 901 mountaineers from 68 countries including Nepal are preparing to climb various mountains and peaks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15893', 'image' => '20221014053642_mount-manaslu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 17:36:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Importers Demand Lifting Ban on Import of Four Items', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal Foreign Trade Association, the umbrella body of import businessmen, had demanded the government to lift the ban imposed on the import of four different items including vehicles such as cars, jeeps, vans; mobiles phones worth more than US$300; motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity; and ready-made liquor.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Nepal Foreign Trade Association, the umbrella body of import businessmen, had demanded the government to lift the ban imposed on the import of four different items including vehicles such as cars, jeeps, vans; mobiles phones worth more than US$300; motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity; and ready-made liquor.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association issued a statement saying the government has not been able to meet the revenue collection target after banning the import of goods that generate more revenue while the businessmen who have invested billions of rupees are also suffering huge losses. The statement issued by the association reads, “All the banned items except vehicles and motorcycles are being smuggled through illegal channels. Considering this fact, the association strongly demands that the ban on the import of the remaining four items be removed as soon as possible.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had imposed a ban on the import of 10 different items since May due to the pressure on foreign exchange reserves. Although the ban on import of six different items has already been lifted, the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans, mobile phones worth more than US$300, motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity and ready-made alcohol still remains.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, the economic activities have decreased after the Nepal Rastra Bank adopted a policy of increasing interest rates to control inflation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement further mentions that inflation has increased not due to internal reasons of Nepal, but due to external factors. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The importers drew the attention of the government that it has become very difficult to conduct business because of the increase in interest rates as per the directive of the NRB. The association opines that the Ministry of Finance and NRB should take appropriate steps to control this, reasoning that it is having a negative impact on traders, general public and government revenue. The association argued that there is high risk of the economy going into recession due to rising interest rates at a time when there is a decline in economic activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> The association stressed that the NRB should monitor the cooperatives, stating that the institutions involved in this sector are turning problematic one after another.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that micro, small and medium enterprises have been unable to take loans from microfinance companies in sufficient quantity due to the provision that microfinance companies cannot invest more than a certain limit, the association also urged the government to remove such limit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15892', 'image' => '20221014042405_import.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 16:23:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lack of Skills Troubling Aspiring Migrant Workers', 'sub_title' => 'Most of the Nepali Youths Opt for Foreign Employment without Acquiring Proper Skills', 'summary' => 'October 14: Phurba Sherpa of Solukhumbu, Ramse, who was recruited by Qatar-based company Haliullah for carpentry work, returned home within one week because he lacked the required skills.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Phurba Sherpa of Solukhumbu, Ramse, who was recruited by Qatar-based company Haliullah for carpentry work, returned home within one week because he lacked the required skills.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company sent the 31-year-old Sherpa back to Nepal last month after he could not do the carpentry work properly. Now he has been making rounds of the Department of Foreign Employment and other agencies demanding compensation for the expenses incurred while going to Qatar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Claiming that he had to return back because the manpower company did not clearly mention the job description before leaving for Qatar, Sherpa is demanding compensation of Rs 100,000 from the manpower company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Before leaving abroad, the manpower company told me that the work was to load and unload wood in the furniture industry. However, after reaching Qatar, I learnt that the work was related to carpentry."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sherpa, who has no carpentry skills, returned home disappointed after the company told him that he was not qualified for the hob. Sherpa, who took loans before going abroad, said that he has to auction his house if the manpower company does not return his money.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Krishna Khatri from Morang, Urlabari, had planned to earn good money and build a new house by going abroad for foreign employment. However, his foreign employment journey also ended within one month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Khatri, who was sent to Malaysia for a light driving job, said that he was made to drive a heavy vehicle there.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"If he had learned the necessary skills before heading for foreign employment, he would not have had to end up becoming jobless, and his investment wouldn't have gone down the drains," he told New Business Age. Now he is making claims to get back Rs 55,000 from the concerned manpower company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In recent days, as the number of people going for jobs abroad is increasing, the risk of landing in foreign countries without skill has increased. This has increased the chances of investment being lost.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Many suffer losses eventually because they show little interest to acquire skills despite repeated requests from the government agencies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15891', 'image' => '20221014022359_foreign emp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 14:23:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'No Initiative Taken to Remove Possible Ban on Nepalese Tea by India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: A motion with 11 serious allegations against Nepal’s tea industry has been registered in the Provincial Assembly of West Bengal, India alleging that the tea produced in Nepal has discredited the Darjeeling tea in the world market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: A motion with 11 serious allegations against Nepal’s tea industry has been registered in the Provincial Assembly of West Bengal, India alleging that the tea produced in Nepal has discredited the Darjeeling tea in the world market. If the registered motion is passed, there will be a problem for the tea produced in Nepal to get access to the Indian market. Nepal has been exporting tea worth Rs 3.5 billion to India annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB), 11,920 metric tons of tea valued at Rs 3.79 billion rupees was exported to 33 different countries of the world in the fiscal year 2020/21. Among this, 11,472 tons of tea worth Rs 3.38 billion was exported to India alone. If India decides to ban Nepal’s tea, the farmers and tea producers of Nepal will lose a big market. Tea is cultivated in an area of 17,000 hectares in Nepal by 24,000 farmers. There are 146 small and big industries related to tea. The farmers, industrialists and businessmen involved with the tea industry are now in panic after it has become almost certain that Nepalese farmers will lose 80 percent of the market if they are not able to export tea to India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NTCDB, 80 percent of tea from Nepal, including CTC and orthodox tea, goes to the Indian market and 20 percent to other 32 countries including the US, China, and the UK.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The data of the Department of Customs shows that tea worth Rs 2.78 billion was exported in 2019/20, Rs 3.79 billion in 2020/21 and Rs 3.43 billion in 2021/22 to third countries as well as neighbouring India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suresh Mittal, the central president of Nepal Tea Producers Association said that tea farmers and industrialists of Nepal are distressed after a motion to ban tea from Nepal was registered with the Parliamentary Committee on Commerce and Trade in the Parliament of India with the signatures of 40 MPs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the motion was registered two months ago, Mittal maintains that the threat is considerable as the Indian government or its subordinate bodies has not issued any official view regarding it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mittal informed that they submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Nepal to take initiatives to avoit a ban on Nepali tea before the Indian government takes any unpleasant decision. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Mittal, 'G2G' talks should be held to resolve the non-customs barriers imposed by the Indian side on Nepalese tea and other issues. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Udaya Chapagain, advisor to the Nepal Tea Planters Association, said that the tea exported from Nepal to India is being obstructed from time to time by various levels of the government and the tea board of India, making the traders suffers under various pretexts. He emphasized that the problems related to tea export should be resolved once and for all through discussions between the governments of both the countries. He said that the government of Nepal should also take initiatives to export indigenous tea to China. Foreign Minister Dr. Narayan Khadka raised the issue of exporting tea and herbs from Nepal during his latest visit to China.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15890', 'image' => '20221014010853_Tea.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 13:08:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal to Prioritize Climate Adaptation and Financing during COP27 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal is preparing to attend the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC on November 7-18. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: Nepal is preparing to attend the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC slated for November 7-18. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the session, Nepal being one of the countries highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to its sensitive geography, will raise issues concerning the impact of climate change on the mountain region with much priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Climate change adaptation, damages and losses, and climate finance are among issues Nepal will be raising with priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Study shows that Nepal’s highland has witnessed the temperature rise by 1.8 degree Celsius when global warming is measured at 1 degree Celsius, the major consequence of greenhouse gas effect. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The impact of climate change on the entire mountainous economy and the ecosystem there, and in the low-lying areas will be the issues of priority of Nepal in the conference scheduled to be held at Sharm el-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was originally scheduled to take place from November 8-20 in 2021, but it was rescheduled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal will participate in the session with its special priorities on issues such as climate change adaptation and reduction, climate finance, specific issues of mountain region and financing for climate losses and damages, according to the Ministry of Forest and Environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Climate Change Management Division of the Ministry, Dr Buddhisagar Poudel, informed that Nepal is preparing to put forth the issues regarding global goals related to climate adaptation in COP27. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal believes that the developed countries should ensure climate grants and finance to countries like Nepal as per their expectations. In addition to this, Nepal will be demanding additional compensation for the losses and damages caused by climate-induced disasters. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During COP26, Nepal made a pledge to achieve 'net zero' carbon emissions by 2045. ‘Net zero emissions’ refers to achieving an overall balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions taken out of the atmosphere, according to the Climate Council. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Climate Change and Environment Advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr Madhav Bahadur Karki, said issues including assistances for financial cooperation, efficiency enhancement and technology development will be raised in the conference. Similarly, the management and transparency of the commitments done by developed countries to provide 100 million dollar to developing countries to fight the impacts of climate change by 2023 will also be put up. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal along with various countries in the world has submitted its NDCs report. NDCs represent efforts by each country to reduce national emission and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The conference will prioritise required resources for the implementation of the report. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15889', 'image' => '20221014115048_iuydf2022060504340420220605044309.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 11:49:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM Deuba Sacks Four Ministers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday relieved four ministers representing the Janata Samajbadi Party from their posts.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday relieved four ministers representing the Janata Samajbadi Party from their posts. The PM took such measure after the Janata Samajbadi Party decided to forge an electoral alliance with the main opposition party CPN UML during the upcoming November 20 elections.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has been learnt that PM Deuba is not happy with the decision of the coalition partner to join hands with the UML. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba relieved Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration, Rajendra Prasad Shrestha; Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Mrigendra Kumar Singh; Minister for Physical Infrastructures and Transport, Istiyak Raya; and Minister for Forest and Environment, Pradip Yadav in accordance with Article 77 (2.b) of the Constitution of Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although PM Deuba relieved the ministers from their post, he has not appointed any new ministers due to the Election Code of Conduct. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, President Bidya Devi Bhandari has assigned PM Deuba to look after the relieved posts. According to the President's Office, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, has been given responsibility to look after the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15888', 'image' => '20221014015026_Deuba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 13:49:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Vehicles Powered by Diesel and Petrol Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: The import of vehicles powered by diesel and petrol has declined significantly at the Birgunj customs in the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 13: The import of vehicles powered by diesel and petrol has declined significantly at the Birgunj customs in the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The records of Birgunj customs also revealed that the import of electric vehicles has increased during the same period.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the data of Birgunj customs, the import of jeeps, cars, and vans decreased by 81 percent. A total of 1,673 vehicles including jeeps, cars, and vans had entered the dry port from mid-July to mid-August last year. However, only 310 of such vehicles entered the customs premises during the same period this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of vehicles took a nosedive due to the policy adopted by the government to curb imports in order to reduce the pressure on foreign exchange reserves and the lack of investable capital in banks. Since vehicles are the main source of revenue of the customs, the revenue collection has decreased along with the decline in the import of vehicles. As a result, Birgunj customs has not been able to collect revenue as per the target.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of electric jeeps, cars and vans on the other hand increased by 56 percent. According to the customs office, 45 electric vehicles were imported in the first two months of the last fiscal year, which increased to 70 in the same period this year. Similarly, there has been a significant increase in the import of electric motorcycles by 193 percent. The number of electric motorcycles imported into the country increased from 123 to 361.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has taken a policy to encourage the import of electric vehicles. Compared to other vehicles, the attraction of such vehicles has increased due to low customs duty and low registration fees. But although the government encourages the import of such vehicles, stakeholders say that the current incentives are not enough.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Customs records show that the import of motorcycles decreased by 61 percent. According to Dhan Bahadur Baruwal, the Chief Customs Officer of Birgunj customs, 12,633 motorcycles were imported in the first two months of the previous year, which decreased to 4,968 this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of unassembled motorcycles on the other hand increased by 160 percent. In the first two months of last fiscal year, 3,196 such motorcycles entered through Birgunj customs, which increased to 8,307 this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the decrease in the import of vehicles, the import of spare parts has also decreased. According to the customs data, such imports decreased by 27 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15887', 'image' => '20221013045929_1665642168.Gadi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 16:58:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Business of Life Insurance Companies Slump due to Global Economic Recession', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: Life insurance companies of Nepal have collected insurance worth more than Rs 26 billion as of mid-September this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 13: Life insurance companies of Nepal have collected insurance worth more than Rs 26 billion as of mid-September this year. However, the business of insurance companies has declined due to the effect of the global economic recession and the rising interest rates of banks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Insurance Board, the 19 life insurance companies in operation have issued 14.14 million policies and collected insurance fees of Rs 26.37 billion until mid-September.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Between mid-August to mid-September, the companies collected insurance amount of Rs 10.97 billion. However, the collection of insurance fees in the review month declined by 27.11 per cent compared to a month ago. Between mid-July and mid-August, insurance companies had collected insurance amount of Rs 15.57 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Raju Raman Paudel, executive director of the board, said that the business of insurance companies has affected by the decline in economic activities and the increase in interest rates of banks. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The effect of the financial recession and the increase in interest rates of banks have affected the business of insurance companies. That is why the business of insurance companies has decreased in September compared to August," he added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Lately, banks have announced term deposit schemes for a period of up to 20 years with returns up to 10 times the initial deposit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A large part of the insurance amount collected in the review month is the result of by the renewal of policy. According to the board, the companies collected Rs 2.20 billion as the insurance fee and Rs 12.85 billion as renewal fee.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mahalakshmi Life Insurance Limited, said that the business of the insurance companies has also been affected due to the slump in banking activities. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"People pay for insurance only when all the needs are met," he said, "When the banks have stopped lending, and the cash flow in the market is low, the priority of the general public is on meeting the basic needs,'' he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of the Insurance Board, Nepal Life Insurance Company has done the most business till mid-September. This company has collected Rs 7.62 billion in insurance fees as of mid-September. Similarly, National Life Insurance Company has collected Rs 3.23 billion, Life Insurance Corporation (Nepal) Limited has collected Rs 3.19 billion , Union Life has collected Rs 1.44 billion, and Asian Life has collected Rs 1.21 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15886', 'image' => '20221013043854_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 16:38:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Only One Company Submits Application for Broker's License', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: With just five days remaining for the submission of application for new broker license, only one company has filed application so far seeking such license.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">October 13: With just five days remaining for the submission of application for new broker license, only one company has filed application so far seeking such license. According to the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), Himalayan Securities Limited has applied for a limited operating broker license.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spokesperson of the board, Rupesh KC, informed that only one company has applied for a broker's license. The board had recently announced application for three types of broker licenses. According to KC, Himalayan Securities has presented a letter to the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) seeking its recommendation for the license. Stating that the application should be submitted to the board along with the recommendation of NEPSE within the specified period, KC said that Himalayan Securities should attest the recommendation letter of NEPSE by October 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As of Wednesday, 21 companies have sought recommendations for broker licenses from NEPSE. Murahari Parajuli, information officer of NEPSE, informed that only 11 companies asked for recommendations on Wednesday. According to him, by Tuesday, 10 companies, including Himalayan Securities, had requested recommendations from NEPSE.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Parajuli informed that among the companies that have sought recommendations from NEPSE are Machhapuchche Securities, NMB Securities, KBL Securities, Kalash Securities, Volenlej Securities, Capital Max Securities, Property Bigad, Share Pro Securities and Prabhu Stock. He added that the number of companies seeking recommendations is increasing as the application deadline is getting shorter. NEPSE’s Board of Directors held a meeting on Wednesday and decided to give recommendations for new broker licenses only to the eligible companies. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, Parajuli informed that NEPSE has not yet issued recommendation letters to any company so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There is a mandatory provision to seek the recommendation of NEPSE before submitting an application to the board for a new broker license. Himalayan Securities, which applied for the license with the board without the recommendation of NEPSE, will be denied the license if it fails to present the recommendation letter to the board by October 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON is planning to issue three types of broker licenses based on the capital structure of the company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the KC, the minimum paid-up capital required for the new stock exchange company is Rs 3 billion. Likewise, the capital requirement for new broker license has been fixed between Rs 200 million to Rs 1.5 billion. Brokers will be issued three different types of licenses based on their capital.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the new provision, the first kind of brokers providing limited services of stock market transaction require a minimum capital of Rs 200 million to acquire license. Likewise, the brokers providing services like share transaction, depository participant, investment consultancy, investment management and margin business need to have a minimum paid up capital of Rs 600 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the third type of license will be issued for stock dealers who must maintain a minimum capital of Rs 1.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The board had called for applications for to operate a new stock exchange company and two commodity exchanges along with broker's license on the September 18. The deadline to submit application for broker license was 30 days while the deadline for stock exchanges and commodity exchanges was of 45 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15885', 'image' => '20221013035521_20220913040730_Sebonnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 15:54:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Installation of Broadband Internet Gains Momentum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has completed broadband service installation in the designated areas of 74 districts through the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 13: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has completed broadband service installation in the designated areas of 74 districts through the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA is to provide broadband service across the country through 18 different packages. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The service has come into operation in the areas after the completion of the installation work. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA Spokesperson Santosh Poudel said monitoring and testing of 10 projects have been completed so far. Monitoring and testing under the third phase of eight projects has yet to be undertaken. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Poudel informed that the process of installing broadband service has been put forward in the eight districts that were most affected by the 2015 earthquakes including Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dolakha, Sindhuli, Ramechhap and Okhaldhunga by mobilizing the same fund. In this connection, the NTA has signed separate memorandum of understanding with 73 out of a total of 76 municipalities and rural municipalities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA has come up with a plan to install at least 20-MBPS capacity broadband internet service in 4,251 areas including offices of all local governments, ward offices, community secondary schools, community health facilities and all primary schools to enhance their institutional capacity. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15884', 'image' => '20221013013456_20210831104852_20210221040652_20191021115126_adsfjjj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 13:34:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16158', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import Ban to Remain in Force till mid-December', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: The government has decided to enfore the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans, readymade liquor and motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity and smart phones worth more than US$300 until mid-December.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 16: The government has decided to enfore the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans, readymade liquor and motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity and smart phones worth more than US$300 until mid-December.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ban imposed on the import of these items on April 26 was to expire last Friday. However, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies published a notice on the Nepal Gazette on Friday extending the ban period. As the foreign exchange reserves were under pressure, the ministry had initially published a notice on the Nepal Gazette on April 26 and banned the import of 10 luxury goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the 10 items, the ban on food items like crisps along with color televisions larger than 32 inches, playing cards, diamonds other than raw materials, cigarettes and tobacco products and all kinds of toys was removed on August 29.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry, however, extended the ban on import of four items using the powers given by Sub-section 1 of Section 3 of the Export Import (Control) Act, 2013. According to the ministry, the purpose of the ban is to protect the country's external financial sector and balance of payments by preventing deficits of the foreign currency or by increasing the extremely low foreign currency reserves.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had been tightening imports since last winter. Initially, Nepal Rastra Bank set a limit on import quota of silver. Last December, the central bank had made arrangements requiring 50 and 100 percent cash margin for opening LC for the import of luxury goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The chief executive officers of commercial banks were verbally instructed by NRB to avoid opening LCs for the import of vehicles for private use. Eventually, as a last resort, a formal ban was imposed on the import of luxury items on April 26.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The importers have been claiming that despite the ban imposed by the government, the import of other goods except two-wheelers and four-wheelers never stopped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madan Mittal, former secretary general of Nepal Foreign Trade Association, says that the ban on the import of goods other than vehicles and large machinery tools has only give an opportunity to the smugglers to bring such goods into the country through illegal channels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15899', 'image' => '20221016024624_20220717124909_nada.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 14:45:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16157', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monsoon Starts Exiting Nepal from Saturday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: This year's monsoon has gradually started exiting Nepal from Saturday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 16: This year's monsoon has gradually started exiting Nepal from Saturday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a special monsoon bulletin regarding the departure of monsoon, the division said that monsoon has exited from all provinces except Province 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The monsoon that entered Nepal from the eastern belt of the country on June 5 this year exited Sudurpaschim Province, Karnali Province, Lumbini Province, Gandaki Province and Madhesh Province," read the special monsoon bulletin. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It would take few more days for the monsoon to exit from the remaining parts of the country, the division said. Generally monsoon exits Nepal by October 2 but this year it was extended by few more days. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15898', 'image' => '20221016010123_HemantKC_Jajarkot_RSS_09.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 13:00:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Ranks Second in Global Hunger Index among South Asian Countries', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: Nepal has ranked second in South Asia in the Global Hunger Index 2022. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">October 16: Nepal has ranked second in South Asia in the Global Hunger Index 2022. The Global Hunger Index 2022 released recently shows that Nepal ranks behind Sri Lanka in the list among South Asian Countries. It means that Nepal is one of the countries affected the least by hunger in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Overall, Nepal ranks 81st out of the 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022 ranking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a score of 19.1, Nepal has a level of hunger that is “moderate”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators - undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Undernourishment is determined on the basis of the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake while child stunting is measured based on the share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic under-nutrition.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, child wasting is determined by the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute under-nutrition and child mortality is based on the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Based on the values of the four indicators, a GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger, where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. Each country’s GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In South Asia, neighbouring India ranked 107 in the Global Hunger Index 2022 with its child wasting rate at 19.3 per cent being the highest in the world, according to the Economic Times. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The level of hunger in India with a score of 29.1 has been labelled "serious".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sri Lanka with a global ranking of 64 tops the list in South Asia followed by Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), Pakistan (99), India (107), and Afghanistan (109).</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15897', 'image' => '20221016111519_GHI-2-1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 11:14:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16155', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI and IFC Preparing Joint Report to Support Policymakers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are joining hands to preparing a report in order to assess the status of the private sector in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 16: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are joining hands to preparing a report in order to assess the status of the private sector in Nepal and to record the contribution of this sector to the national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report is expected to be an important document for policymakers. It will present statistics, concepts, analyses and policy recommendations in regard to the impact of the investment from the private sector to the nation's development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This collaboration between FNCCI and IFC has set the objective of providing the required information for policy debate among the government, the private sector, development partners and other stakeholders on issues related to the private sector development, the FNCCI said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There has been a qualitative growth of the private sector in Nepal since 1990. More than 99 percent formal businesses are under the ownership of the private sector. This includes the notable investment made in the social sectors such as education and health. The private sector has a growing presence in terms of capital formation and creating employment opportunities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Further development and strengthening of the private sector is essential in order to achieve Nepal's developmental goals. This would be possible only through policy reforms and a debate between the public and private sectors," FNCCI president Shekhar Golchha said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFC, as the largest development partner in the world, said it is committed to extend cooperation for the development of market and opportunities in Nepal. It is necessary to further improve the investment environment in the country for domestic and foreign investors, IFC resident representative for Nepal, Babacar S Faye said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFC is delivering on its ambitious target for Nepal by significantly increasing investments and advisory services. IFC is a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group. It is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15896', 'image' => '20221016103627_1665825434.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 10:35:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16154', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Authorized to Suspend Share Transactions of Merging Banks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has authorized the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to decide on the suspension of share trading of banks and financial institutions opting for merger and acquisition.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has authorized the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to decide on the suspension of share trading of banks and financial institutions opting for merger and acquisition.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank amended the Regulation for Merger and Acquisition of Banks and Financial Institutions 2073 on Thursday to make arrangements for the suspension and release of share transactions to be done in accordance to the provisions made by the SEBON.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the share transaction of banks and financial institutions gets suspended after signing an agreement for merger or acquisition and remains in force until the merging institutions start integrated transactions. The central bank has taken a flexible approach after increasing complaints that the suspension of share trading in the secondary market for a long time during merger or acquisition adversely affects the investors.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, NRB has mentioned that the existing provision of suspending share trading during merger or acquisition will be cancelled, and provision will be made as prescribed by SEBON. NRB has amended the regulation to implement the arrangements made by the monetary policy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although NRB has given the right to decide on the suspension of share trading to SEBON, the board has yet to decide on this matter. In the draft of the guidelines for mergers and acquisitions of organized organizations published by the board in July, it has been proposed to suspend share transactions of BFIs opting for merger and acquisition for a maximum of 15 working days. Although the board said that the guidelines will be finalized based on the suggestions of the stakeholders, the guidelines have not been passed yet.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15895', 'image' => '20221014060023_Mergerrrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 17:59:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '901 Climbers Granted Permits for Winter Expedition', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: The government has granted permits to 901 mountaineers of 108 groups to climb 35 different mountain peaks for the winter expedition. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: The government has granted permits to 901 mountaineers of 108 groups to climb 35 different mountain peaks for the winter expedition. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, the highest number of permits has been issued for Mt Manaslu (8,163 m). Altogether 404 mountaineers of 38 groups were granted permits to scale this mountain during the winter expedition. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the department informed that it has issued permits to five persons of a group to climb the highest mountain in the world, Mt Everest (Sagarmatha). A total of 131 permits were issued to 11 groups for climbing Mt Ama Dablam (6,814 m) while permits were also issued to 144 mountaineers of 14 groups for the expedition of Mt Himlung (7,167 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Thirty-four mountaineers of four different groups have received permission to scale Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) while one group has been granted permission to climb Mt Nuptse (7,855 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, the department has collected over Rs 70 million in royalties from permits issued for the winter expedition this year. A total of 901 mountaineers from 68 countries including Nepal are preparing to climb various mountains and peaks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15893', 'image' => '20221014053642_mount-manaslu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 17:36:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Importers Demand Lifting Ban on Import of Four Items', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal Foreign Trade Association, the umbrella body of import businessmen, had demanded the government to lift the ban imposed on the import of four different items including vehicles such as cars, jeeps, vans; mobiles phones worth more than US$300; motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity; and ready-made liquor.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Nepal Foreign Trade Association, the umbrella body of import businessmen, had demanded the government to lift the ban imposed on the import of four different items including vehicles such as cars, jeeps, vans; mobiles phones worth more than US$300; motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity; and ready-made liquor.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association issued a statement saying the government has not been able to meet the revenue collection target after banning the import of goods that generate more revenue while the businessmen who have invested billions of rupees are also suffering huge losses. The statement issued by the association reads, “All the banned items except vehicles and motorcycles are being smuggled through illegal channels. Considering this fact, the association strongly demands that the ban on the import of the remaining four items be removed as soon as possible.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had imposed a ban on the import of 10 different items since May due to the pressure on foreign exchange reserves. Although the ban on import of six different items has already been lifted, the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans, mobile phones worth more than US$300, motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity and ready-made alcohol still remains.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, the economic activities have decreased after the Nepal Rastra Bank adopted a policy of increasing interest rates to control inflation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement further mentions that inflation has increased not due to internal reasons of Nepal, but due to external factors. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The importers drew the attention of the government that it has become very difficult to conduct business because of the increase in interest rates as per the directive of the NRB. The association opines that the Ministry of Finance and NRB should take appropriate steps to control this, reasoning that it is having a negative impact on traders, general public and government revenue. The association argued that there is high risk of the economy going into recession due to rising interest rates at a time when there is a decline in economic activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> The association stressed that the NRB should monitor the cooperatives, stating that the institutions involved in this sector are turning problematic one after another.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that micro, small and medium enterprises have been unable to take loans from microfinance companies in sufficient quantity due to the provision that microfinance companies cannot invest more than a certain limit, the association also urged the government to remove such limit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15892', 'image' => '20221014042405_import.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 16:23:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lack of Skills Troubling Aspiring Migrant Workers', 'sub_title' => 'Most of the Nepali Youths Opt for Foreign Employment without Acquiring Proper Skills', 'summary' => 'October 14: Phurba Sherpa of Solukhumbu, Ramse, who was recruited by Qatar-based company Haliullah for carpentry work, returned home within one week because he lacked the required skills.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Phurba Sherpa of Solukhumbu, Ramse, who was recruited by Qatar-based company Haliullah for carpentry work, returned home within one week because he lacked the required skills.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company sent the 31-year-old Sherpa back to Nepal last month after he could not do the carpentry work properly. Now he has been making rounds of the Department of Foreign Employment and other agencies demanding compensation for the expenses incurred while going to Qatar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Claiming that he had to return back because the manpower company did not clearly mention the job description before leaving for Qatar, Sherpa is demanding compensation of Rs 100,000 from the manpower company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Before leaving abroad, the manpower company told me that the work was to load and unload wood in the furniture industry. However, after reaching Qatar, I learnt that the work was related to carpentry."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sherpa, who has no carpentry skills, returned home disappointed after the company told him that he was not qualified for the hob. Sherpa, who took loans before going abroad, said that he has to auction his house if the manpower company does not return his money.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Krishna Khatri from Morang, Urlabari, had planned to earn good money and build a new house by going abroad for foreign employment. However, his foreign employment journey also ended within one month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Khatri, who was sent to Malaysia for a light driving job, said that he was made to drive a heavy vehicle there.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"If he had learned the necessary skills before heading for foreign employment, he would not have had to end up becoming jobless, and his investment wouldn't have gone down the drains," he told New Business Age. Now he is making claims to get back Rs 55,000 from the concerned manpower company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In recent days, as the number of people going for jobs abroad is increasing, the risk of landing in foreign countries without skill has increased. This has increased the chances of investment being lost.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Many suffer losses eventually because they show little interest to acquire skills despite repeated requests from the government agencies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15891', 'image' => '20221014022359_foreign emp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 14:23:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'No Initiative Taken to Remove Possible Ban on Nepalese Tea by India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: A motion with 11 serious allegations against Nepal’s tea industry has been registered in the Provincial Assembly of West Bengal, India alleging that the tea produced in Nepal has discredited the Darjeeling tea in the world market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: A motion with 11 serious allegations against Nepal’s tea industry has been registered in the Provincial Assembly of West Bengal, India alleging that the tea produced in Nepal has discredited the Darjeeling tea in the world market. If the registered motion is passed, there will be a problem for the tea produced in Nepal to get access to the Indian market. Nepal has been exporting tea worth Rs 3.5 billion to India annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB), 11,920 metric tons of tea valued at Rs 3.79 billion rupees was exported to 33 different countries of the world in the fiscal year 2020/21. Among this, 11,472 tons of tea worth Rs 3.38 billion was exported to India alone. If India decides to ban Nepal’s tea, the farmers and tea producers of Nepal will lose a big market. Tea is cultivated in an area of 17,000 hectares in Nepal by 24,000 farmers. There are 146 small and big industries related to tea. The farmers, industrialists and businessmen involved with the tea industry are now in panic after it has become almost certain that Nepalese farmers will lose 80 percent of the market if they are not able to export tea to India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NTCDB, 80 percent of tea from Nepal, including CTC and orthodox tea, goes to the Indian market and 20 percent to other 32 countries including the US, China, and the UK.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The data of the Department of Customs shows that tea worth Rs 2.78 billion was exported in 2019/20, Rs 3.79 billion in 2020/21 and Rs 3.43 billion in 2021/22 to third countries as well as neighbouring India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suresh Mittal, the central president of Nepal Tea Producers Association said that tea farmers and industrialists of Nepal are distressed after a motion to ban tea from Nepal was registered with the Parliamentary Committee on Commerce and Trade in the Parliament of India with the signatures of 40 MPs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the motion was registered two months ago, Mittal maintains that the threat is considerable as the Indian government or its subordinate bodies has not issued any official view regarding it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mittal informed that they submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Nepal to take initiatives to avoit a ban on Nepali tea before the Indian government takes any unpleasant decision. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Mittal, 'G2G' talks should be held to resolve the non-customs barriers imposed by the Indian side on Nepalese tea and other issues. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Udaya Chapagain, advisor to the Nepal Tea Planters Association, said that the tea exported from Nepal to India is being obstructed from time to time by various levels of the government and the tea board of India, making the traders suffers under various pretexts. He emphasized that the problems related to tea export should be resolved once and for all through discussions between the governments of both the countries. He said that the government of Nepal should also take initiatives to export indigenous tea to China. Foreign Minister Dr. Narayan Khadka raised the issue of exporting tea and herbs from Nepal during his latest visit to China.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15890', 'image' => '20221014010853_Tea.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 13:08:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal to Prioritize Climate Adaptation and Financing during COP27 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal is preparing to attend the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC on November 7-18. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: Nepal is preparing to attend the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC slated for November 7-18. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the session, Nepal being one of the countries highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to its sensitive geography, will raise issues concerning the impact of climate change on the mountain region with much priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Climate change adaptation, damages and losses, and climate finance are among issues Nepal will be raising with priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Study shows that Nepal’s highland has witnessed the temperature rise by 1.8 degree Celsius when global warming is measured at 1 degree Celsius, the major consequence of greenhouse gas effect. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The impact of climate change on the entire mountainous economy and the ecosystem there, and in the low-lying areas will be the issues of priority of Nepal in the conference scheduled to be held at Sharm el-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was originally scheduled to take place from November 8-20 in 2021, but it was rescheduled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal will participate in the session with its special priorities on issues such as climate change adaptation and reduction, climate finance, specific issues of mountain region and financing for climate losses and damages, according to the Ministry of Forest and Environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Climate Change Management Division of the Ministry, Dr Buddhisagar Poudel, informed that Nepal is preparing to put forth the issues regarding global goals related to climate adaptation in COP27. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal believes that the developed countries should ensure climate grants and finance to countries like Nepal as per their expectations. In addition to this, Nepal will be demanding additional compensation for the losses and damages caused by climate-induced disasters. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During COP26, Nepal made a pledge to achieve 'net zero' carbon emissions by 2045. ‘Net zero emissions’ refers to achieving an overall balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions taken out of the atmosphere, according to the Climate Council. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Climate Change and Environment Advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr Madhav Bahadur Karki, said issues including assistances for financial cooperation, efficiency enhancement and technology development will be raised in the conference. Similarly, the management and transparency of the commitments done by developed countries to provide 100 million dollar to developing countries to fight the impacts of climate change by 2023 will also be put up. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal along with various countries in the world has submitted its NDCs report. NDCs represent efforts by each country to reduce national emission and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The conference will prioritise required resources for the implementation of the report. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15889', 'image' => '20221014115048_iuydf2022060504340420220605044309.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 11:49:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM Deuba Sacks Four Ministers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday relieved four ministers representing the Janata Samajbadi Party from their posts.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday relieved four ministers representing the Janata Samajbadi Party from their posts. The PM took such measure after the Janata Samajbadi Party decided to forge an electoral alliance with the main opposition party CPN UML during the upcoming November 20 elections.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has been learnt that PM Deuba is not happy with the decision of the coalition partner to join hands with the UML. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba relieved Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration, Rajendra Prasad Shrestha; Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Mrigendra Kumar Singh; Minister for Physical Infrastructures and Transport, Istiyak Raya; and Minister for Forest and Environment, Pradip Yadav in accordance with Article 77 (2.b) of the Constitution of Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although PM Deuba relieved the ministers from their post, he has not appointed any new ministers due to the Election Code of Conduct. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, President Bidya Devi Bhandari has assigned PM Deuba to look after the relieved posts. According to the President's Office, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, has been given responsibility to look after the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15888', 'image' => '20221014015026_Deuba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 13:49:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Vehicles Powered by Diesel and Petrol Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: The import of vehicles powered by diesel and petrol has declined significantly at the Birgunj customs in the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 13: The import of vehicles powered by diesel and petrol has declined significantly at the Birgunj customs in the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The records of Birgunj customs also revealed that the import of electric vehicles has increased during the same period.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the data of Birgunj customs, the import of jeeps, cars, and vans decreased by 81 percent. A total of 1,673 vehicles including jeeps, cars, and vans had entered the dry port from mid-July to mid-August last year. However, only 310 of such vehicles entered the customs premises during the same period this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of vehicles took a nosedive due to the policy adopted by the government to curb imports in order to reduce the pressure on foreign exchange reserves and the lack of investable capital in banks. Since vehicles are the main source of revenue of the customs, the revenue collection has decreased along with the decline in the import of vehicles. As a result, Birgunj customs has not been able to collect revenue as per the target.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of electric jeeps, cars and vans on the other hand increased by 56 percent. According to the customs office, 45 electric vehicles were imported in the first two months of the last fiscal year, which increased to 70 in the same period this year. Similarly, there has been a significant increase in the import of electric motorcycles by 193 percent. The number of electric motorcycles imported into the country increased from 123 to 361.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has taken a policy to encourage the import of electric vehicles. Compared to other vehicles, the attraction of such vehicles has increased due to low customs duty and low registration fees. But although the government encourages the import of such vehicles, stakeholders say that the current incentives are not enough.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Customs records show that the import of motorcycles decreased by 61 percent. According to Dhan Bahadur Baruwal, the Chief Customs Officer of Birgunj customs, 12,633 motorcycles were imported in the first two months of the previous year, which decreased to 4,968 this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of unassembled motorcycles on the other hand increased by 160 percent. In the first two months of last fiscal year, 3,196 such motorcycles entered through Birgunj customs, which increased to 8,307 this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the decrease in the import of vehicles, the import of spare parts has also decreased. According to the customs data, such imports decreased by 27 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15887', 'image' => '20221013045929_1665642168.Gadi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 16:58:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Business of Life Insurance Companies Slump due to Global Economic Recession', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: Life insurance companies of Nepal have collected insurance worth more than Rs 26 billion as of mid-September this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 13: Life insurance companies of Nepal have collected insurance worth more than Rs 26 billion as of mid-September this year. However, the business of insurance companies has declined due to the effect of the global economic recession and the rising interest rates of banks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Insurance Board, the 19 life insurance companies in operation have issued 14.14 million policies and collected insurance fees of Rs 26.37 billion until mid-September.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Between mid-August to mid-September, the companies collected insurance amount of Rs 10.97 billion. However, the collection of insurance fees in the review month declined by 27.11 per cent compared to a month ago. Between mid-July and mid-August, insurance companies had collected insurance amount of Rs 15.57 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Raju Raman Paudel, executive director of the board, said that the business of insurance companies has affected by the decline in economic activities and the increase in interest rates of banks. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The effect of the financial recession and the increase in interest rates of banks have affected the business of insurance companies. That is why the business of insurance companies has decreased in September compared to August," he added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Lately, banks have announced term deposit schemes for a period of up to 20 years with returns up to 10 times the initial deposit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A large part of the insurance amount collected in the review month is the result of by the renewal of policy. According to the board, the companies collected Rs 2.20 billion as the insurance fee and Rs 12.85 billion as renewal fee.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mahalakshmi Life Insurance Limited, said that the business of the insurance companies has also been affected due to the slump in banking activities. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"People pay for insurance only when all the needs are met," he said, "When the banks have stopped lending, and the cash flow in the market is low, the priority of the general public is on meeting the basic needs,'' he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of the Insurance Board, Nepal Life Insurance Company has done the most business till mid-September. This company has collected Rs 7.62 billion in insurance fees as of mid-September. Similarly, National Life Insurance Company has collected Rs 3.23 billion, Life Insurance Corporation (Nepal) Limited has collected Rs 3.19 billion , Union Life has collected Rs 1.44 billion, and Asian Life has collected Rs 1.21 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15886', 'image' => '20221013043854_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 16:38:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Only One Company Submits Application for Broker's License', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: With just five days remaining for the submission of application for new broker license, only one company has filed application so far seeking such license.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">October 13: With just five days remaining for the submission of application for new broker license, only one company has filed application so far seeking such license. According to the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), Himalayan Securities Limited has applied for a limited operating broker license.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spokesperson of the board, Rupesh KC, informed that only one company has applied for a broker's license. The board had recently announced application for three types of broker licenses. According to KC, Himalayan Securities has presented a letter to the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) seeking its recommendation for the license. Stating that the application should be submitted to the board along with the recommendation of NEPSE within the specified period, KC said that Himalayan Securities should attest the recommendation letter of NEPSE by October 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As of Wednesday, 21 companies have sought recommendations for broker licenses from NEPSE. Murahari Parajuli, information officer of NEPSE, informed that only 11 companies asked for recommendations on Wednesday. According to him, by Tuesday, 10 companies, including Himalayan Securities, had requested recommendations from NEPSE.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Parajuli informed that among the companies that have sought recommendations from NEPSE are Machhapuchche Securities, NMB Securities, KBL Securities, Kalash Securities, Volenlej Securities, Capital Max Securities, Property Bigad, Share Pro Securities and Prabhu Stock. He added that the number of companies seeking recommendations is increasing as the application deadline is getting shorter. NEPSE’s Board of Directors held a meeting on Wednesday and decided to give recommendations for new broker licenses only to the eligible companies. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, Parajuli informed that NEPSE has not yet issued recommendation letters to any company so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There is a mandatory provision to seek the recommendation of NEPSE before submitting an application to the board for a new broker license. Himalayan Securities, which applied for the license with the board without the recommendation of NEPSE, will be denied the license if it fails to present the recommendation letter to the board by October 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON is planning to issue three types of broker licenses based on the capital structure of the company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the KC, the minimum paid-up capital required for the new stock exchange company is Rs 3 billion. Likewise, the capital requirement for new broker license has been fixed between Rs 200 million to Rs 1.5 billion. Brokers will be issued three different types of licenses based on their capital.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the new provision, the first kind of brokers providing limited services of stock market transaction require a minimum capital of Rs 200 million to acquire license. Likewise, the brokers providing services like share transaction, depository participant, investment consultancy, investment management and margin business need to have a minimum paid up capital of Rs 600 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the third type of license will be issued for stock dealers who must maintain a minimum capital of Rs 1.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The board had called for applications for to operate a new stock exchange company and two commodity exchanges along with broker's license on the September 18. The deadline to submit application for broker license was 30 days while the deadline for stock exchanges and commodity exchanges was of 45 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15885', 'image' => '20221013035521_20220913040730_Sebonnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 15:54:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Installation of Broadband Internet Gains Momentum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has completed broadband service installation in the designated areas of 74 districts through the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 13: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has completed broadband service installation in the designated areas of 74 districts through the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA is to provide broadband service across the country through 18 different packages. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The service has come into operation in the areas after the completion of the installation work. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA Spokesperson Santosh Poudel said monitoring and testing of 10 projects have been completed so far. Monitoring and testing under the third phase of eight projects has yet to be undertaken. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Poudel informed that the process of installing broadband service has been put forward in the eight districts that were most affected by the 2015 earthquakes including Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dolakha, Sindhuli, Ramechhap and Okhaldhunga by mobilizing the same fund. In this connection, the NTA has signed separate memorandum of understanding with 73 out of a total of 76 municipalities and rural municipalities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA has come up with a plan to install at least 20-MBPS capacity broadband internet service in 4,251 areas including offices of all local governments, ward offices, community secondary schools, community health facilities and all primary schools to enhance their institutional capacity. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15884', 'image' => '20221013013456_20210831104852_20210221040652_20191021115126_adsfjjj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 13:34:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16158', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import Ban to Remain in Force till mid-December', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: The government has decided to enfore the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans, readymade liquor and motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity and smart phones worth more than US$300 until mid-December.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 16: The government has decided to enfore the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans, readymade liquor and motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity and smart phones worth more than US$300 until mid-December.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ban imposed on the import of these items on April 26 was to expire last Friday. However, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies published a notice on the Nepal Gazette on Friday extending the ban period. As the foreign exchange reserves were under pressure, the ministry had initially published a notice on the Nepal Gazette on April 26 and banned the import of 10 luxury goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the 10 items, the ban on food items like crisps along with color televisions larger than 32 inches, playing cards, diamonds other than raw materials, cigarettes and tobacco products and all kinds of toys was removed on August 29.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry, however, extended the ban on import of four items using the powers given by Sub-section 1 of Section 3 of the Export Import (Control) Act, 2013. According to the ministry, the purpose of the ban is to protect the country's external financial sector and balance of payments by preventing deficits of the foreign currency or by increasing the extremely low foreign currency reserves.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had been tightening imports since last winter. Initially, Nepal Rastra Bank set a limit on import quota of silver. Last December, the central bank had made arrangements requiring 50 and 100 percent cash margin for opening LC for the import of luxury goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The chief executive officers of commercial banks were verbally instructed by NRB to avoid opening LCs for the import of vehicles for private use. Eventually, as a last resort, a formal ban was imposed on the import of luxury items on April 26.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The importers have been claiming that despite the ban imposed by the government, the import of other goods except two-wheelers and four-wheelers never stopped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madan Mittal, former secretary general of Nepal Foreign Trade Association, says that the ban on the import of goods other than vehicles and large machinery tools has only give an opportunity to the smugglers to bring such goods into the country through illegal channels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15899', 'image' => '20221016024624_20220717124909_nada.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 14:45:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16157', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monsoon Starts Exiting Nepal from Saturday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: This year's monsoon has gradually started exiting Nepal from Saturday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 16: This year's monsoon has gradually started exiting Nepal from Saturday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a special monsoon bulletin regarding the departure of monsoon, the division said that monsoon has exited from all provinces except Province 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The monsoon that entered Nepal from the eastern belt of the country on June 5 this year exited Sudurpaschim Province, Karnali Province, Lumbini Province, Gandaki Province and Madhesh Province," read the special monsoon bulletin. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It would take few more days for the monsoon to exit from the remaining parts of the country, the division said. Generally monsoon exits Nepal by October 2 but this year it was extended by few more days. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15898', 'image' => '20221016010123_HemantKC_Jajarkot_RSS_09.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 13:00:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Ranks Second in Global Hunger Index among South Asian Countries', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: Nepal has ranked second in South Asia in the Global Hunger Index 2022. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">October 16: Nepal has ranked second in South Asia in the Global Hunger Index 2022. The Global Hunger Index 2022 released recently shows that Nepal ranks behind Sri Lanka in the list among South Asian Countries. It means that Nepal is one of the countries affected the least by hunger in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Overall, Nepal ranks 81st out of the 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022 ranking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a score of 19.1, Nepal has a level of hunger that is “moderate”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators - undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Undernourishment is determined on the basis of the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake while child stunting is measured based on the share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic under-nutrition.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, child wasting is determined by the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute under-nutrition and child mortality is based on the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Based on the values of the four indicators, a GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger, where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. Each country’s GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In South Asia, neighbouring India ranked 107 in the Global Hunger Index 2022 with its child wasting rate at 19.3 per cent being the highest in the world, according to the Economic Times. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The level of hunger in India with a score of 29.1 has been labelled "serious".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sri Lanka with a global ranking of 64 tops the list in South Asia followed by Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), Pakistan (99), India (107), and Afghanistan (109).</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15897', 'image' => '20221016111519_GHI-2-1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 11:14:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16155', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI and IFC Preparing Joint Report to Support Policymakers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are joining hands to preparing a report in order to assess the status of the private sector in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 16: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are joining hands to preparing a report in order to assess the status of the private sector in Nepal and to record the contribution of this sector to the national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report is expected to be an important document for policymakers. It will present statistics, concepts, analyses and policy recommendations in regard to the impact of the investment from the private sector to the nation's development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This collaboration between FNCCI and IFC has set the objective of providing the required information for policy debate among the government, the private sector, development partners and other stakeholders on issues related to the private sector development, the FNCCI said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There has been a qualitative growth of the private sector in Nepal since 1990. More than 99 percent formal businesses are under the ownership of the private sector. This includes the notable investment made in the social sectors such as education and health. The private sector has a growing presence in terms of capital formation and creating employment opportunities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Further development and strengthening of the private sector is essential in order to achieve Nepal's developmental goals. This would be possible only through policy reforms and a debate between the public and private sectors," FNCCI president Shekhar Golchha said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFC, as the largest development partner in the world, said it is committed to extend cooperation for the development of market and opportunities in Nepal. It is necessary to further improve the investment environment in the country for domestic and foreign investors, IFC resident representative for Nepal, Babacar S Faye said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFC is delivering on its ambitious target for Nepal by significantly increasing investments and advisory services. IFC is a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group. It is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15896', 'image' => '20221016103627_1665825434.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 10:35:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16154', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Authorized to Suspend Share Transactions of Merging Banks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has authorized the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to decide on the suspension of share trading of banks and financial institutions opting for merger and acquisition.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has authorized the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to decide on the suspension of share trading of banks and financial institutions opting for merger and acquisition.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank amended the Regulation for Merger and Acquisition of Banks and Financial Institutions 2073 on Thursday to make arrangements for the suspension and release of share transactions to be done in accordance to the provisions made by the SEBON.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the share transaction of banks and financial institutions gets suspended after signing an agreement for merger or acquisition and remains in force until the merging institutions start integrated transactions. The central bank has taken a flexible approach after increasing complaints that the suspension of share trading in the secondary market for a long time during merger or acquisition adversely affects the investors.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, NRB has mentioned that the existing provision of suspending share trading during merger or acquisition will be cancelled, and provision will be made as prescribed by SEBON. NRB has amended the regulation to implement the arrangements made by the monetary policy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although NRB has given the right to decide on the suspension of share trading to SEBON, the board has yet to decide on this matter. In the draft of the guidelines for mergers and acquisitions of organized organizations published by the board in July, it has been proposed to suspend share transactions of BFIs opting for merger and acquisition for a maximum of 15 working days. Although the board said that the guidelines will be finalized based on the suggestions of the stakeholders, the guidelines have not been passed yet.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15895', 'image' => '20221014060023_Mergerrrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 17:59:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '901 Climbers Granted Permits for Winter Expedition', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: The government has granted permits to 901 mountaineers of 108 groups to climb 35 different mountain peaks for the winter expedition. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: The government has granted permits to 901 mountaineers of 108 groups to climb 35 different mountain peaks for the winter expedition. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, the highest number of permits has been issued for Mt Manaslu (8,163 m). Altogether 404 mountaineers of 38 groups were granted permits to scale this mountain during the winter expedition. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the department informed that it has issued permits to five persons of a group to climb the highest mountain in the world, Mt Everest (Sagarmatha). A total of 131 permits were issued to 11 groups for climbing Mt Ama Dablam (6,814 m) while permits were also issued to 144 mountaineers of 14 groups for the expedition of Mt Himlung (7,167 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Thirty-four mountaineers of four different groups have received permission to scale Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) while one group has been granted permission to climb Mt Nuptse (7,855 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, the department has collected over Rs 70 million in royalties from permits issued for the winter expedition this year. A total of 901 mountaineers from 68 countries including Nepal are preparing to climb various mountains and peaks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15893', 'image' => '20221014053642_mount-manaslu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 17:36:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Importers Demand Lifting Ban on Import of Four Items', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal Foreign Trade Association, the umbrella body of import businessmen, had demanded the government to lift the ban imposed on the import of four different items including vehicles such as cars, jeeps, vans; mobiles phones worth more than US$300; motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity; and ready-made liquor.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Nepal Foreign Trade Association, the umbrella body of import businessmen, had demanded the government to lift the ban imposed on the import of four different items including vehicles such as cars, jeeps, vans; mobiles phones worth more than US$300; motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity; and ready-made liquor.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association issued a statement saying the government has not been able to meet the revenue collection target after banning the import of goods that generate more revenue while the businessmen who have invested billions of rupees are also suffering huge losses. The statement issued by the association reads, “All the banned items except vehicles and motorcycles are being smuggled through illegal channels. Considering this fact, the association strongly demands that the ban on the import of the remaining four items be removed as soon as possible.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had imposed a ban on the import of 10 different items since May due to the pressure on foreign exchange reserves. Although the ban on import of six different items has already been lifted, the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans, mobile phones worth more than US$300, motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity and ready-made alcohol still remains.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, the economic activities have decreased after the Nepal Rastra Bank adopted a policy of increasing interest rates to control inflation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement further mentions that inflation has increased not due to internal reasons of Nepal, but due to external factors. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The importers drew the attention of the government that it has become very difficult to conduct business because of the increase in interest rates as per the directive of the NRB. The association opines that the Ministry of Finance and NRB should take appropriate steps to control this, reasoning that it is having a negative impact on traders, general public and government revenue. The association argued that there is high risk of the economy going into recession due to rising interest rates at a time when there is a decline in economic activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> The association stressed that the NRB should monitor the cooperatives, stating that the institutions involved in this sector are turning problematic one after another.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that micro, small and medium enterprises have been unable to take loans from microfinance companies in sufficient quantity due to the provision that microfinance companies cannot invest more than a certain limit, the association also urged the government to remove such limit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15892', 'image' => '20221014042405_import.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 16:23:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lack of Skills Troubling Aspiring Migrant Workers', 'sub_title' => 'Most of the Nepali Youths Opt for Foreign Employment without Acquiring Proper Skills', 'summary' => 'October 14: Phurba Sherpa of Solukhumbu, Ramse, who was recruited by Qatar-based company Haliullah for carpentry work, returned home within one week because he lacked the required skills.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Phurba Sherpa of Solukhumbu, Ramse, who was recruited by Qatar-based company Haliullah for carpentry work, returned home within one week because he lacked the required skills.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company sent the 31-year-old Sherpa back to Nepal last month after he could not do the carpentry work properly. Now he has been making rounds of the Department of Foreign Employment and other agencies demanding compensation for the expenses incurred while going to Qatar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Claiming that he had to return back because the manpower company did not clearly mention the job description before leaving for Qatar, Sherpa is demanding compensation of Rs 100,000 from the manpower company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Before leaving abroad, the manpower company told me that the work was to load and unload wood in the furniture industry. However, after reaching Qatar, I learnt that the work was related to carpentry."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sherpa, who has no carpentry skills, returned home disappointed after the company told him that he was not qualified for the hob. Sherpa, who took loans before going abroad, said that he has to auction his house if the manpower company does not return his money.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Krishna Khatri from Morang, Urlabari, had planned to earn good money and build a new house by going abroad for foreign employment. However, his foreign employment journey also ended within one month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Khatri, who was sent to Malaysia for a light driving job, said that he was made to drive a heavy vehicle there.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"If he had learned the necessary skills before heading for foreign employment, he would not have had to end up becoming jobless, and his investment wouldn't have gone down the drains," he told New Business Age. Now he is making claims to get back Rs 55,000 from the concerned manpower company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In recent days, as the number of people going for jobs abroad is increasing, the risk of landing in foreign countries without skill has increased. This has increased the chances of investment being lost.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Many suffer losses eventually because they show little interest to acquire skills despite repeated requests from the government agencies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15891', 'image' => '20221014022359_foreign emp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 14:23:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'No Initiative Taken to Remove Possible Ban on Nepalese Tea by India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: A motion with 11 serious allegations against Nepal’s tea industry has been registered in the Provincial Assembly of West Bengal, India alleging that the tea produced in Nepal has discredited the Darjeeling tea in the world market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: A motion with 11 serious allegations against Nepal’s tea industry has been registered in the Provincial Assembly of West Bengal, India alleging that the tea produced in Nepal has discredited the Darjeeling tea in the world market. If the registered motion is passed, there will be a problem for the tea produced in Nepal to get access to the Indian market. Nepal has been exporting tea worth Rs 3.5 billion to India annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB), 11,920 metric tons of tea valued at Rs 3.79 billion rupees was exported to 33 different countries of the world in the fiscal year 2020/21. Among this, 11,472 tons of tea worth Rs 3.38 billion was exported to India alone. If India decides to ban Nepal’s tea, the farmers and tea producers of Nepal will lose a big market. Tea is cultivated in an area of 17,000 hectares in Nepal by 24,000 farmers. There are 146 small and big industries related to tea. The farmers, industrialists and businessmen involved with the tea industry are now in panic after it has become almost certain that Nepalese farmers will lose 80 percent of the market if they are not able to export tea to India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NTCDB, 80 percent of tea from Nepal, including CTC and orthodox tea, goes to the Indian market and 20 percent to other 32 countries including the US, China, and the UK.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The data of the Department of Customs shows that tea worth Rs 2.78 billion was exported in 2019/20, Rs 3.79 billion in 2020/21 and Rs 3.43 billion in 2021/22 to third countries as well as neighbouring India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suresh Mittal, the central president of Nepal Tea Producers Association said that tea farmers and industrialists of Nepal are distressed after a motion to ban tea from Nepal was registered with the Parliamentary Committee on Commerce and Trade in the Parliament of India with the signatures of 40 MPs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the motion was registered two months ago, Mittal maintains that the threat is considerable as the Indian government or its subordinate bodies has not issued any official view regarding it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mittal informed that they submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Nepal to take initiatives to avoit a ban on Nepali tea before the Indian government takes any unpleasant decision. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Mittal, 'G2G' talks should be held to resolve the non-customs barriers imposed by the Indian side on Nepalese tea and other issues. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Udaya Chapagain, advisor to the Nepal Tea Planters Association, said that the tea exported from Nepal to India is being obstructed from time to time by various levels of the government and the tea board of India, making the traders suffers under various pretexts. He emphasized that the problems related to tea export should be resolved once and for all through discussions between the governments of both the countries. He said that the government of Nepal should also take initiatives to export indigenous tea to China. Foreign Minister Dr. Narayan Khadka raised the issue of exporting tea and herbs from Nepal during his latest visit to China.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15890', 'image' => '20221014010853_Tea.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 13:08:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal to Prioritize Climate Adaptation and Financing during COP27 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal is preparing to attend the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC on November 7-18. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: Nepal is preparing to attend the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC slated for November 7-18. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the session, Nepal being one of the countries highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to its sensitive geography, will raise issues concerning the impact of climate change on the mountain region with much priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Climate change adaptation, damages and losses, and climate finance are among issues Nepal will be raising with priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Study shows that Nepal’s highland has witnessed the temperature rise by 1.8 degree Celsius when global warming is measured at 1 degree Celsius, the major consequence of greenhouse gas effect. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The impact of climate change on the entire mountainous economy and the ecosystem there, and in the low-lying areas will be the issues of priority of Nepal in the conference scheduled to be held at Sharm el-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was originally scheduled to take place from November 8-20 in 2021, but it was rescheduled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal will participate in the session with its special priorities on issues such as climate change adaptation and reduction, climate finance, specific issues of mountain region and financing for climate losses and damages, according to the Ministry of Forest and Environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Climate Change Management Division of the Ministry, Dr Buddhisagar Poudel, informed that Nepal is preparing to put forth the issues regarding global goals related to climate adaptation in COP27. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal believes that the developed countries should ensure climate grants and finance to countries like Nepal as per their expectations. In addition to this, Nepal will be demanding additional compensation for the losses and damages caused by climate-induced disasters. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During COP26, Nepal made a pledge to achieve 'net zero' carbon emissions by 2045. ‘Net zero emissions’ refers to achieving an overall balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions taken out of the atmosphere, according to the Climate Council. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Climate Change and Environment Advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr Madhav Bahadur Karki, said issues including assistances for financial cooperation, efficiency enhancement and technology development will be raised in the conference. Similarly, the management and transparency of the commitments done by developed countries to provide 100 million dollar to developing countries to fight the impacts of climate change by 2023 will also be put up. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal along with various countries in the world has submitted its NDCs report. NDCs represent efforts by each country to reduce national emission and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The conference will prioritise required resources for the implementation of the report. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15889', 'image' => '20221014115048_iuydf2022060504340420220605044309.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 11:49:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM Deuba Sacks Four Ministers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday relieved four ministers representing the Janata Samajbadi Party from their posts.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday relieved four ministers representing the Janata Samajbadi Party from their posts. The PM took such measure after the Janata Samajbadi Party decided to forge an electoral alliance with the main opposition party CPN UML during the upcoming November 20 elections.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has been learnt that PM Deuba is not happy with the decision of the coalition partner to join hands with the UML. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba relieved Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration, Rajendra Prasad Shrestha; Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Mrigendra Kumar Singh; Minister for Physical Infrastructures and Transport, Istiyak Raya; and Minister for Forest and Environment, Pradip Yadav in accordance with Article 77 (2.b) of the Constitution of Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although PM Deuba relieved the ministers from their post, he has not appointed any new ministers due to the Election Code of Conduct. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, President Bidya Devi Bhandari has assigned PM Deuba to look after the relieved posts. According to the President's Office, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, has been given responsibility to look after the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15888', 'image' => '20221014015026_Deuba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 13:49:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Vehicles Powered by Diesel and Petrol Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: The import of vehicles powered by diesel and petrol has declined significantly at the Birgunj customs in the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 13: The import of vehicles powered by diesel and petrol has declined significantly at the Birgunj customs in the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The records of Birgunj customs also revealed that the import of electric vehicles has increased during the same period.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the data of Birgunj customs, the import of jeeps, cars, and vans decreased by 81 percent. A total of 1,673 vehicles including jeeps, cars, and vans had entered the dry port from mid-July to mid-August last year. However, only 310 of such vehicles entered the customs premises during the same period this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of vehicles took a nosedive due to the policy adopted by the government to curb imports in order to reduce the pressure on foreign exchange reserves and the lack of investable capital in banks. Since vehicles are the main source of revenue of the customs, the revenue collection has decreased along with the decline in the import of vehicles. As a result, Birgunj customs has not been able to collect revenue as per the target.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of electric jeeps, cars and vans on the other hand increased by 56 percent. According to the customs office, 45 electric vehicles were imported in the first two months of the last fiscal year, which increased to 70 in the same period this year. Similarly, there has been a significant increase in the import of electric motorcycles by 193 percent. The number of electric motorcycles imported into the country increased from 123 to 361.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has taken a policy to encourage the import of electric vehicles. Compared to other vehicles, the attraction of such vehicles has increased due to low customs duty and low registration fees. But although the government encourages the import of such vehicles, stakeholders say that the current incentives are not enough.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Customs records show that the import of motorcycles decreased by 61 percent. According to Dhan Bahadur Baruwal, the Chief Customs Officer of Birgunj customs, 12,633 motorcycles were imported in the first two months of the previous year, which decreased to 4,968 this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of unassembled motorcycles on the other hand increased by 160 percent. In the first two months of last fiscal year, 3,196 such motorcycles entered through Birgunj customs, which increased to 8,307 this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the decrease in the import of vehicles, the import of spare parts has also decreased. According to the customs data, such imports decreased by 27 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15887', 'image' => '20221013045929_1665642168.Gadi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 16:58:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Business of Life Insurance Companies Slump due to Global Economic Recession', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: Life insurance companies of Nepal have collected insurance worth more than Rs 26 billion as of mid-September this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 13: Life insurance companies of Nepal have collected insurance worth more than Rs 26 billion as of mid-September this year. However, the business of insurance companies has declined due to the effect of the global economic recession and the rising interest rates of banks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Insurance Board, the 19 life insurance companies in operation have issued 14.14 million policies and collected insurance fees of Rs 26.37 billion until mid-September.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Between mid-August to mid-September, the companies collected insurance amount of Rs 10.97 billion. However, the collection of insurance fees in the review month declined by 27.11 per cent compared to a month ago. Between mid-July and mid-August, insurance companies had collected insurance amount of Rs 15.57 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Raju Raman Paudel, executive director of the board, said that the business of insurance companies has affected by the decline in economic activities and the increase in interest rates of banks. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The effect of the financial recession and the increase in interest rates of banks have affected the business of insurance companies. That is why the business of insurance companies has decreased in September compared to August," he added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Lately, banks have announced term deposit schemes for a period of up to 20 years with returns up to 10 times the initial deposit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A large part of the insurance amount collected in the review month is the result of by the renewal of policy. According to the board, the companies collected Rs 2.20 billion as the insurance fee and Rs 12.85 billion as renewal fee.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mahalakshmi Life Insurance Limited, said that the business of the insurance companies has also been affected due to the slump in banking activities. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"People pay for insurance only when all the needs are met," he said, "When the banks have stopped lending, and the cash flow in the market is low, the priority of the general public is on meeting the basic needs,'' he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of the Insurance Board, Nepal Life Insurance Company has done the most business till mid-September. This company has collected Rs 7.62 billion in insurance fees as of mid-September. Similarly, National Life Insurance Company has collected Rs 3.23 billion, Life Insurance Corporation (Nepal) Limited has collected Rs 3.19 billion , Union Life has collected Rs 1.44 billion, and Asian Life has collected Rs 1.21 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15886', 'image' => '20221013043854_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 16:38:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Only One Company Submits Application for Broker's License', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: With just five days remaining for the submission of application for new broker license, only one company has filed application so far seeking such license.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">October 13: With just five days remaining for the submission of application for new broker license, only one company has filed application so far seeking such license. According to the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), Himalayan Securities Limited has applied for a limited operating broker license.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spokesperson of the board, Rupesh KC, informed that only one company has applied for a broker's license. The board had recently announced application for three types of broker licenses. According to KC, Himalayan Securities has presented a letter to the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) seeking its recommendation for the license. Stating that the application should be submitted to the board along with the recommendation of NEPSE within the specified period, KC said that Himalayan Securities should attest the recommendation letter of NEPSE by October 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As of Wednesday, 21 companies have sought recommendations for broker licenses from NEPSE. Murahari Parajuli, information officer of NEPSE, informed that only 11 companies asked for recommendations on Wednesday. According to him, by Tuesday, 10 companies, including Himalayan Securities, had requested recommendations from NEPSE.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Parajuli informed that among the companies that have sought recommendations from NEPSE are Machhapuchche Securities, NMB Securities, KBL Securities, Kalash Securities, Volenlej Securities, Capital Max Securities, Property Bigad, Share Pro Securities and Prabhu Stock. He added that the number of companies seeking recommendations is increasing as the application deadline is getting shorter. NEPSE’s Board of Directors held a meeting on Wednesday and decided to give recommendations for new broker licenses only to the eligible companies. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, Parajuli informed that NEPSE has not yet issued recommendation letters to any company so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There is a mandatory provision to seek the recommendation of NEPSE before submitting an application to the board for a new broker license. Himalayan Securities, which applied for the license with the board without the recommendation of NEPSE, will be denied the license if it fails to present the recommendation letter to the board by October 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON is planning to issue three types of broker licenses based on the capital structure of the company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the KC, the minimum paid-up capital required for the new stock exchange company is Rs 3 billion. Likewise, the capital requirement for new broker license has been fixed between Rs 200 million to Rs 1.5 billion. Brokers will be issued three different types of licenses based on their capital.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the new provision, the first kind of brokers providing limited services of stock market transaction require a minimum capital of Rs 200 million to acquire license. Likewise, the brokers providing services like share transaction, depository participant, investment consultancy, investment management and margin business need to have a minimum paid up capital of Rs 600 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the third type of license will be issued for stock dealers who must maintain a minimum capital of Rs 1.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The board had called for applications for to operate a new stock exchange company and two commodity exchanges along with broker's license on the September 18. The deadline to submit application for broker license was 30 days while the deadline for stock exchanges and commodity exchanges was of 45 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15885', 'image' => '20221013035521_20220913040730_Sebonnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 15:54:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Installation of Broadband Internet Gains Momentum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has completed broadband service installation in the designated areas of 74 districts through the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 13: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has completed broadband service installation in the designated areas of 74 districts through the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA is to provide broadband service across the country through 18 different packages. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The service has come into operation in the areas after the completion of the installation work. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA Spokesperson Santosh Poudel said monitoring and testing of 10 projects have been completed so far. Monitoring and testing under the third phase of eight projects has yet to be undertaken. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Poudel informed that the process of installing broadband service has been put forward in the eight districts that were most affected by the 2015 earthquakes including Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dolakha, Sindhuli, Ramechhap and Okhaldhunga by mobilizing the same fund. In this connection, the NTA has signed separate memorandum of understanding with 73 out of a total of 76 municipalities and rural municipalities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA has come up with a plan to install at least 20-MBPS capacity broadband internet service in 4,251 areas including offices of all local governments, ward offices, community secondary schools, community health facilities and all primary schools to enhance their institutional capacity. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15884', 'image' => '20221013013456_20210831104852_20210221040652_20191021115126_adsfjjj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 13:34:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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However, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies published a notice on the Nepal Gazette on Friday extending the ban period. As the foreign exchange reserves were under pressure, the ministry had initially published a notice on the Nepal Gazette on April 26 and banned the import of 10 luxury goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the 10 items, the ban on food items like crisps along with color televisions larger than 32 inches, playing cards, diamonds other than raw materials, cigarettes and tobacco products and all kinds of toys was removed on August 29.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The ministry, however, extended the ban on import of four items using the powers given by Sub-section 1 of Section 3 of the Export Import (Control) Act, 2013. According to the ministry, the purpose of the ban is to protect the country's external financial sector and balance of payments by preventing deficits of the foreign currency or by increasing the extremely low foreign currency reserves.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had been tightening imports since last winter. Initially, Nepal Rastra Bank set a limit on import quota of silver. Last December, the central bank had made arrangements requiring 50 and 100 percent cash margin for opening LC for the import of luxury goods.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The chief executive officers of commercial banks were verbally instructed by NRB to avoid opening LCs for the import of vehicles for private use. Eventually, as a last resort, a formal ban was imposed on the import of luxury items on April 26.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The importers have been claiming that despite the ban imposed by the government, the import of other goods except two-wheelers and four-wheelers never stopped.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madan Mittal, former secretary general of Nepal Foreign Trade Association, says that the ban on the import of goods other than vehicles and large machinery tools has only give an opportunity to the smugglers to bring such goods into the country through illegal channels.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15899', 'image' => '20221016024624_20220717124909_nada.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 14:45:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16157', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Monsoon Starts Exiting Nepal from Saturday ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: This year's monsoon has gradually started exiting Nepal from Saturday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 16: This year's monsoon has gradually started exiting Nepal from Saturday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a special monsoon bulletin regarding the departure of monsoon, the division said that monsoon has exited from all provinces except Province 1. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"The monsoon that entered Nepal from the eastern belt of the country on June 5 this year exited Sudurpaschim Province, Karnali Province, Lumbini Province, Gandaki Province and Madhesh Province," read the special monsoon bulletin. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It would take few more days for the monsoon to exit from the remaining parts of the country, the division said. Generally monsoon exits Nepal by October 2 but this year it was extended by few more days. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15898', 'image' => '20221016010123_HemantKC_Jajarkot_RSS_09.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 13:00:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Ranks Second in Global Hunger Index among South Asian Countries', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: Nepal has ranked second in South Asia in the Global Hunger Index 2022. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">October 16: Nepal has ranked second in South Asia in the Global Hunger Index 2022. The Global Hunger Index 2022 released recently shows that Nepal ranks behind Sri Lanka in the list among South Asian Countries. It means that Nepal is one of the countries affected the least by hunger in South Asia.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Overall, Nepal ranks 81st out of the 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022 ranking.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a score of 19.1, Nepal has a level of hunger that is “moderate”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators - undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Undernourishment is determined on the basis of the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake while child stunting is measured based on the share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic under-nutrition.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, child wasting is determined by the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute under-nutrition and child mortality is based on the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> Based on the values of the four indicators, a GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger, where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. Each country’s GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In South Asia, neighbouring India ranked 107 in the Global Hunger Index 2022 with its child wasting rate at 19.3 per cent being the highest in the world, according to the Economic Times. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The level of hunger in India with a score of 29.1 has been labelled "serious".</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sri Lanka with a global ranking of 64 tops the list in South Asia followed by Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), Pakistan (99), India (107), and Afghanistan (109).</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15897', 'image' => '20221016111519_GHI-2-1.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 11:14:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16155', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'FNCCI and IFC Preparing Joint Report to Support Policymakers ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 16: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are joining hands to preparing a report in order to assess the status of the private sector in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 16: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are joining hands to preparing a report in order to assess the status of the private sector in Nepal and to record the contribution of this sector to the national economy. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The report is expected to be an important document for policymakers. It will present statistics, concepts, analyses and policy recommendations in regard to the impact of the investment from the private sector to the nation's development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This collaboration between FNCCI and IFC has set the objective of providing the required information for policy debate among the government, the private sector, development partners and other stakeholders on issues related to the private sector development, the FNCCI said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There has been a qualitative growth of the private sector in Nepal since 1990. More than 99 percent formal businesses are under the ownership of the private sector. This includes the notable investment made in the social sectors such as education and health. The private sector has a growing presence in terms of capital formation and creating employment opportunities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Further development and strengthening of the private sector is essential in order to achieve Nepal's developmental goals. This would be possible only through policy reforms and a debate between the public and private sectors," FNCCI president Shekhar Golchha said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFC, as the largest development partner in the world, said it is committed to extend cooperation for the development of market and opportunities in Nepal. It is necessary to further improve the investment environment in the country for domestic and foreign investors, IFC resident representative for Nepal, Babacar S Faye said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">IFC is delivering on its ambitious target for Nepal by significantly increasing investments and advisory services. IFC is a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group. It is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-16', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15896', 'image' => '20221016103627_1665825434.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-16 10:35:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16154', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Authorized to Suspend Share Transactions of Merging Banks', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has authorized the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to decide on the suspension of share trading of banks and financial institutions opting for merger and acquisition.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has authorized the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to decide on the suspension of share trading of banks and financial institutions opting for merger and acquisition.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The central bank amended the Regulation for Merger and Acquisition of Banks and Financial Institutions 2073 on Thursday to make arrangements for the suspension and release of share transactions to be done in accordance to the provisions made by the SEBON.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the share transaction of banks and financial institutions gets suspended after signing an agreement for merger or acquisition and remains in force until the merging institutions start integrated transactions. The central bank has taken a flexible approach after increasing complaints that the suspension of share trading in the secondary market for a long time during merger or acquisition adversely affects the investors.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the monetary policy of the current fiscal year, NRB has mentioned that the existing provision of suspending share trading during merger or acquisition will be cancelled, and provision will be made as prescribed by SEBON. NRB has amended the regulation to implement the arrangements made by the monetary policy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although NRB has given the right to decide on the suspension of share trading to SEBON, the board has yet to decide on this matter. In the draft of the guidelines for mergers and acquisitions of organized organizations published by the board in July, it has been proposed to suspend share transactions of BFIs opting for merger and acquisition for a maximum of 15 working days. Although the board said that the guidelines will be finalized based on the suggestions of the stakeholders, the guidelines have not been passed yet.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15895', 'image' => '20221014060023_Mergerrrrr.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 17:59:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16152', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '901 Climbers Granted Permits for Winter Expedition', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: The government has granted permits to 901 mountaineers of 108 groups to climb 35 different mountain peaks for the winter expedition. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: The government has granted permits to 901 mountaineers of 108 groups to climb 35 different mountain peaks for the winter expedition. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, the highest number of permits has been issued for Mt Manaslu (8,163 m). Altogether 404 mountaineers of 38 groups were granted permits to scale this mountain during the winter expedition. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the department informed that it has issued permits to five persons of a group to climb the highest mountain in the world, Mt Everest (Sagarmatha). A total of 131 permits were issued to 11 groups for climbing Mt Ama Dablam (6,814 m) while permits were also issued to 144 mountaineers of 14 groups for the expedition of Mt Himlung (7,167 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Thirty-four mountaineers of four different groups have received permission to scale Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) while one group has been granted permission to climb Mt Nuptse (7,855 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, the department has collected over Rs 70 million in royalties from permits issued for the winter expedition this year. A total of 901 mountaineers from 68 countries including Nepal are preparing to climb various mountains and peaks. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15893', 'image' => '20221014053642_mount-manaslu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 17:36:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16151', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Importers Demand Lifting Ban on Import of Four Items', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal Foreign Trade Association, the umbrella body of import businessmen, had demanded the government to lift the ban imposed on the import of four different items including vehicles such as cars, jeeps, vans; mobiles phones worth more than US$300; motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity; and ready-made liquor.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Nepal Foreign Trade Association, the umbrella body of import businessmen, had demanded the government to lift the ban imposed on the import of four different items including vehicles such as cars, jeeps, vans; mobiles phones worth more than US$300; motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity; and ready-made liquor.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association issued a statement saying the government has not been able to meet the revenue collection target after banning the import of goods that generate more revenue while the businessmen who have invested billions of rupees are also suffering huge losses. The statement issued by the association reads, “All the banned items except vehicles and motorcycles are being smuggled through illegal channels. Considering this fact, the association strongly demands that the ban on the import of the remaining four items be removed as soon as possible.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had imposed a ban on the import of 10 different items since May due to the pressure on foreign exchange reserves. Although the ban on import of six different items has already been lifted, the ban on the import of cars, jeeps, vans, mobile phones worth more than US$300, motorcycles of more than 150 cc capacity and ready-made alcohol still remains.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the association, the economic activities have decreased after the Nepal Rastra Bank adopted a policy of increasing interest rates to control inflation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement further mentions that inflation has increased not due to internal reasons of Nepal, but due to external factors. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The importers drew the attention of the government that it has become very difficult to conduct business because of the increase in interest rates as per the directive of the NRB. The association opines that the Ministry of Finance and NRB should take appropriate steps to control this, reasoning that it is having a negative impact on traders, general public and government revenue. The association argued that there is high risk of the economy going into recession due to rising interest rates at a time when there is a decline in economic activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> The association stressed that the NRB should monitor the cooperatives, stating that the institutions involved in this sector are turning problematic one after another.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that micro, small and medium enterprises have been unable to take loans from microfinance companies in sufficient quantity due to the provision that microfinance companies cannot invest more than a certain limit, the association also urged the government to remove such limit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15892', 'image' => '20221014042405_import.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 16:23:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16150', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Lack of Skills Troubling Aspiring Migrant Workers', 'sub_title' => 'Most of the Nepali Youths Opt for Foreign Employment without Acquiring Proper Skills', 'summary' => 'October 14: Phurba Sherpa of Solukhumbu, Ramse, who was recruited by Qatar-based company Haliullah for carpentry work, returned home within one week because he lacked the required skills.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: Phurba Sherpa of Solukhumbu, Ramse, who was recruited by Qatar-based company Haliullah for carpentry work, returned home within one week because he lacked the required skills.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company sent the 31-year-old Sherpa back to Nepal last month after he could not do the carpentry work properly. Now he has been making rounds of the Department of Foreign Employment and other agencies demanding compensation for the expenses incurred while going to Qatar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Claiming that he had to return back because the manpower company did not clearly mention the job description before leaving for Qatar, Sherpa is demanding compensation of Rs 100,000 from the manpower company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Before leaving abroad, the manpower company told me that the work was to load and unload wood in the furniture industry. However, after reaching Qatar, I learnt that the work was related to carpentry."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sherpa, who has no carpentry skills, returned home disappointed after the company told him that he was not qualified for the hob. Sherpa, who took loans before going abroad, said that he has to auction his house if the manpower company does not return his money.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Krishna Khatri from Morang, Urlabari, had planned to earn good money and build a new house by going abroad for foreign employment. However, his foreign employment journey also ended within one month.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Khatri, who was sent to Malaysia for a light driving job, said that he was made to drive a heavy vehicle there.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"If he had learned the necessary skills before heading for foreign employment, he would not have had to end up becoming jobless, and his investment wouldn't have gone down the drains," he told New Business Age. Now he is making claims to get back Rs 55,000 from the concerned manpower company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In recent days, as the number of people going for jobs abroad is increasing, the risk of landing in foreign countries without skill has increased. This has increased the chances of investment being lost.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Many suffer losses eventually because they show little interest to acquire skills despite repeated requests from the government agencies.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15891', 'image' => '20221014022359_foreign emp.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 14:23:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16148', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'No Initiative Taken to Remove Possible Ban on Nepalese Tea by India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: A motion with 11 serious allegations against Nepal’s tea industry has been registered in the Provincial Assembly of West Bengal, India alleging that the tea produced in Nepal has discredited the Darjeeling tea in the world market.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 14: A motion with 11 serious allegations against Nepal’s tea industry has been registered in the Provincial Assembly of West Bengal, India alleging that the tea produced in Nepal has discredited the Darjeeling tea in the world market. If the registered motion is passed, there will be a problem for the tea produced in Nepal to get access to the Indian market. Nepal has been exporting tea worth Rs 3.5 billion to India annually.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB), 11,920 metric tons of tea valued at Rs 3.79 billion rupees was exported to 33 different countries of the world in the fiscal year 2020/21. Among this, 11,472 tons of tea worth Rs 3.38 billion was exported to India alone. If India decides to ban Nepal’s tea, the farmers and tea producers of Nepal will lose a big market. Tea is cultivated in an area of 17,000 hectares in Nepal by 24,000 farmers. There are 146 small and big industries related to tea. The farmers, industrialists and businessmen involved with the tea industry are now in panic after it has become almost certain that Nepalese farmers will lose 80 percent of the market if they are not able to export tea to India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to NTCDB, 80 percent of tea from Nepal, including CTC and orthodox tea, goes to the Indian market and 20 percent to other 32 countries including the US, China, and the UK.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The data of the Department of Customs shows that tea worth Rs 2.78 billion was exported in 2019/20, Rs 3.79 billion in 2020/21 and Rs 3.43 billion in 2021/22 to third countries as well as neighbouring India.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suresh Mittal, the central president of Nepal Tea Producers Association said that tea farmers and industrialists of Nepal are distressed after a motion to ban tea from Nepal was registered with the Parliamentary Committee on Commerce and Trade in the Parliament of India with the signatures of 40 MPs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the motion was registered two months ago, Mittal maintains that the threat is considerable as the Indian government or its subordinate bodies has not issued any official view regarding it.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Mittal informed that they submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Nepal to take initiatives to avoit a ban on Nepali tea before the Indian government takes any unpleasant decision. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Mittal, 'G2G' talks should be held to resolve the non-customs barriers imposed by the Indian side on Nepalese tea and other issues. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Udaya Chapagain, advisor to the Nepal Tea Planters Association, said that the tea exported from Nepal to India is being obstructed from time to time by various levels of the government and the tea board of India, making the traders suffers under various pretexts. He emphasized that the problems related to tea export should be resolved once and for all through discussions between the governments of both the countries. He said that the government of Nepal should also take initiatives to export indigenous tea to China. Foreign Minister Dr. Narayan Khadka raised the issue of exporting tea and herbs from Nepal during his latest visit to China.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15890', 'image' => '20221014010853_Tea.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 13:08:03', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16147', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal to Prioritize Climate Adaptation and Financing during COP27 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Nepal is preparing to attend the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC on November 7-18. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: Nepal is preparing to attend the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC slated for November 7-18. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the session, Nepal being one of the countries highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to its sensitive geography, will raise issues concerning the impact of climate change on the mountain region with much priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Climate change adaptation, damages and losses, and climate finance are among issues Nepal will be raising with priority. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Study shows that Nepal’s highland has witnessed the temperature rise by 1.8 degree Celsius when global warming is measured at 1 degree Celsius, the major consequence of greenhouse gas effect. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The impact of climate change on the entire mountainous economy and the ecosystem there, and in the low-lying areas will be the issues of priority of Nepal in the conference scheduled to be held at Sharm el-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was originally scheduled to take place from November 8-20 in 2021, but it was rescheduled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal will participate in the session with its special priorities on issues such as climate change adaptation and reduction, climate finance, specific issues of mountain region and financing for climate losses and damages, according to the Ministry of Forest and Environment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief of the Climate Change Management Division of the Ministry, Dr Buddhisagar Poudel, informed that Nepal is preparing to put forth the issues regarding global goals related to climate adaptation in COP27. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal believes that the developed countries should ensure climate grants and finance to countries like Nepal as per their expectations. In addition to this, Nepal will be demanding additional compensation for the losses and damages caused by climate-induced disasters. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During COP26, Nepal made a pledge to achieve 'net zero' carbon emissions by 2045. ‘Net zero emissions’ refers to achieving an overall balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions taken out of the atmosphere, according to the Climate Council. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Climate Change and Environment Advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr Madhav Bahadur Karki, said issues including assistances for financial cooperation, efficiency enhancement and technology development will be raised in the conference. Similarly, the management and transparency of the commitments done by developed countries to provide 100 million dollar to developing countries to fight the impacts of climate change by 2023 will also be put up. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal along with various countries in the world has submitted its NDCs report. NDCs represent efforts by each country to reduce national emission and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The conference will prioritise required resources for the implementation of the report. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15889', 'image' => '20221014115048_iuydf2022060504340420220605044309.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 11:49:58', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16149', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM Deuba Sacks Four Ministers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday relieved four ministers representing the Janata Samajbadi Party from their posts.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday relieved four ministers representing the Janata Samajbadi Party from their posts. The PM took such measure after the Janata Samajbadi Party decided to forge an electoral alliance with the main opposition party CPN UML during the upcoming November 20 elections.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It has been learnt that PM Deuba is not happy with the decision of the coalition partner to join hands with the UML. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba relieved Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration, Rajendra Prasad Shrestha; Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Mrigendra Kumar Singh; Minister for Physical Infrastructures and Transport, Istiyak Raya; and Minister for Forest and Environment, Pradip Yadav in accordance with Article 77 (2.b) of the Constitution of Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although PM Deuba relieved the ministers from their post, he has not appointed any new ministers due to the Election Code of Conduct. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, President Bidya Devi Bhandari has assigned PM Deuba to look after the relieved posts. According to the President's Office, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, has been given responsibility to look after the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-14', 'modified' => '2022-10-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15888', 'image' => '20221014015026_Deuba.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-14 13:49:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16145', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Import of Vehicles Powered by Diesel and Petrol Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: The import of vehicles powered by diesel and petrol has declined significantly at the Birgunj customs in the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 13: The import of vehicles powered by diesel and petrol has declined significantly at the Birgunj customs in the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The records of Birgunj customs also revealed that the import of electric vehicles has increased during the same period.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the data of Birgunj customs, the import of jeeps, cars, and vans decreased by 81 percent. A total of 1,673 vehicles including jeeps, cars, and vans had entered the dry port from mid-July to mid-August last year. However, only 310 of such vehicles entered the customs premises during the same period this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of vehicles took a nosedive due to the policy adopted by the government to curb imports in order to reduce the pressure on foreign exchange reserves and the lack of investable capital in banks. Since vehicles are the main source of revenue of the customs, the revenue collection has decreased along with the decline in the import of vehicles. As a result, Birgunj customs has not been able to collect revenue as per the target.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of electric jeeps, cars and vans on the other hand increased by 56 percent. According to the customs office, 45 electric vehicles were imported in the first two months of the last fiscal year, which increased to 70 in the same period this year. Similarly, there has been a significant increase in the import of electric motorcycles by 193 percent. The number of electric motorcycles imported into the country increased from 123 to 361.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government has taken a policy to encourage the import of electric vehicles. Compared to other vehicles, the attraction of such vehicles has increased due to low customs duty and low registration fees. But although the government encourages the import of such vehicles, stakeholders say that the current incentives are not enough.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Customs records show that the import of motorcycles decreased by 61 percent. According to Dhan Bahadur Baruwal, the Chief Customs Officer of Birgunj customs, 12,633 motorcycles were imported in the first two months of the previous year, which decreased to 4,968 this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The import of unassembled motorcycles on the other hand increased by 160 percent. In the first two months of last fiscal year, 3,196 such motorcycles entered through Birgunj customs, which increased to 8,307 this year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Along with the decrease in the import of vehicles, the import of spare parts has also decreased. According to the customs data, such imports decreased by 27 percent. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15887', 'image' => '20221013045929_1665642168.Gadi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 16:58:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16144', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Business of Life Insurance Companies Slump due to Global Economic Recession', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: Life insurance companies of Nepal have collected insurance worth more than Rs 26 billion as of mid-September this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 13: Life insurance companies of Nepal have collected insurance worth more than Rs 26 billion as of mid-September this year. However, the business of insurance companies has declined due to the effect of the global economic recession and the rising interest rates of banks.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Insurance Board, the 19 life insurance companies in operation have issued 14.14 million policies and collected insurance fees of Rs 26.37 billion until mid-September.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Between mid-August to mid-September, the companies collected insurance amount of Rs 10.97 billion. However, the collection of insurance fees in the review month declined by 27.11 per cent compared to a month ago. Between mid-July and mid-August, insurance companies had collected insurance amount of Rs 15.57 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Raju Raman Paudel, executive director of the board, said that the business of insurance companies has affected by the decline in economic activities and the increase in interest rates of banks. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The effect of the financial recession and the increase in interest rates of banks have affected the business of insurance companies. That is why the business of insurance companies has decreased in September compared to August," he added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Lately, banks have announced term deposit schemes for a period of up to 20 years with returns up to 10 times the initial deposit.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A large part of the insurance amount collected in the review month is the result of by the renewal of policy. According to the board, the companies collected Rs 2.20 billion as the insurance fee and Rs 12.85 billion as renewal fee.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mahalakshmi Life Insurance Limited, said that the business of the insurance companies has also been affected due to the slump in banking activities. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"People pay for insurance only when all the needs are met," he said, "When the banks have stopped lending, and the cash flow in the market is low, the priority of the general public is on meeting the basic needs,'' he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the data of the Insurance Board, Nepal Life Insurance Company has done the most business till mid-September. This company has collected Rs 7.62 billion in insurance fees as of mid-September. Similarly, National Life Insurance Company has collected Rs 3.23 billion, Life Insurance Corporation (Nepal) Limited has collected Rs 3.19 billion , Union Life has collected Rs 1.44 billion, and Asian Life has collected Rs 1.21 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15886', 'image' => '20221013043854_Insurance.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 16:38:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16143', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Only One Company Submits Application for Broker's License', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: With just five days remaining for the submission of application for new broker license, only one company has filed application so far seeking such license.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">October 13: With just five days remaining for the submission of application for new broker license, only one company has filed application so far seeking such license. According to the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), Himalayan Securities Limited has applied for a limited operating broker license.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Spokesperson of the board, Rupesh KC, informed that only one company has applied for a broker's license. The board had recently announced application for three types of broker licenses. According to KC, Himalayan Securities has presented a letter to the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) seeking its recommendation for the license. Stating that the application should be submitted to the board along with the recommendation of NEPSE within the specified period, KC said that Himalayan Securities should attest the recommendation letter of NEPSE by October 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As of Wednesday, 21 companies have sought recommendations for broker licenses from NEPSE. Murahari Parajuli, information officer of NEPSE, informed that only 11 companies asked for recommendations on Wednesday. According to him, by Tuesday, 10 companies, including Himalayan Securities, had requested recommendations from NEPSE.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Parajuli informed that among the companies that have sought recommendations from NEPSE are Machhapuchche Securities, NMB Securities, KBL Securities, Kalash Securities, Volenlej Securities, Capital Max Securities, Property Bigad, Share Pro Securities and Prabhu Stock. He added that the number of companies seeking recommendations is increasing as the application deadline is getting shorter. NEPSE’s Board of Directors held a meeting on Wednesday and decided to give recommendations for new broker licenses only to the eligible companies. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, Parajuli informed that NEPSE has not yet issued recommendation letters to any company so far.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">There is a mandatory provision to seek the recommendation of NEPSE before submitting an application to the board for a new broker license. Himalayan Securities, which applied for the license with the board without the recommendation of NEPSE, will be denied the license if it fails to present the recommendation letter to the board by October 17.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON is planning to issue three types of broker licenses based on the capital structure of the company.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the KC, the minimum paid-up capital required for the new stock exchange company is Rs 3 billion. Likewise, the capital requirement for new broker license has been fixed between Rs 200 million to Rs 1.5 billion. Brokers will be issued three different types of licenses based on their capital.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the new provision, the first kind of brokers providing limited services of stock market transaction require a minimum capital of Rs 200 million to acquire license. Likewise, the brokers providing services like share transaction, depository participant, investment consultancy, investment management and margin business need to have a minimum paid up capital of Rs 600 million.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, the third type of license will be issued for stock dealers who must maintain a minimum capital of Rs 1.5 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The board had called for applications for to operate a new stock exchange company and two commodity exchanges along with broker's license on the September 18. The deadline to submit application for broker license was 30 days while the deadline for stock exchanges and commodity exchanges was of 45 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15885', 'image' => '20221013035521_20220913040730_Sebonnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 15:54:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '16142', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Installation of Broadband Internet Gains Momentum ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 13: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has completed broadband service installation in the designated areas of 74 districts through the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 13: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has completed broadband service installation in the designated areas of 74 districts through the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Project. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA is to provide broadband service across the country through 18 different packages. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The service has come into operation in the areas after the completion of the installation work. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA Spokesperson Santosh Poudel said monitoring and testing of 10 projects have been completed so far. Monitoring and testing under the third phase of eight projects has yet to be undertaken. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Poudel informed that the process of installing broadband service has been put forward in the eight districts that were most affected by the 2015 earthquakes including Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dolakha, Sindhuli, Ramechhap and Okhaldhunga by mobilizing the same fund. In this connection, the NTA has signed separate memorandum of understanding with 73 out of a total of 76 municipalities and rural municipalities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTA has come up with a plan to install at least 20-MBPS capacity broadband internet service in 4,251 areas including offices of all local governments, ward offices, community secondary schools, community health facilities and all primary schools to enhance their institutional capacity. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-10-13', 'modified' => '2022-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15884', 'image' => '20221013013456_20210831104852_20210221040652_20191021115126_adsfjjj.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-10-13 13:34:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
